HOUSTON - As Hispanic teens shed the
language of their native countries and immerse themselves in American
culture, they become dramatically more sexually active, a new study shows.

A review of 7,300 Arizona teenagers'
behavior found that 31 percent of Hispanics who speak primarily English have
had sex, more than twice the percentage of those who speak primarily
Spanish, 14 percent.

The key question - why? - remains
unanswered.

"I wish I knew," said the study's lead
author, Dr. Mary Adam, a pediatrics researcher at the University of
Arizona's College of Medicine. "This is certainly something we are
continuing to explore."

The new study, published in this
month's Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, adds evidence to the
so-called healthy immigrant paradox, that Hispanics coming to the United
States are healthier than second- and third-generation U.S. residents from
the same countries.

Various research has found that less
Americanized Hispanic children have healthier diets, better immunization
rates, fewer suicide attempts, and decreased use of tobacco, alcohol and
drugs compared with more Americanized adolescents.

Some researchers have attributed the
importance of family in Hispanic culture and the high regard for parental
roles as playing a part in protecting health, as well as the social support
from a large family. But there is not a broad consensus yet in the medical
and sociological communities studying these questions.

Dr. Peggy Smith, a professor at Baylor
College of Medicine and director of Ben Taub Hospital's Teen Health Clinic,
said she believes she knows at least partly why Hispanic adolescents become
more sexually active after living in the United States.

Hispanic children who come to this
country become immersed in a culture that is more permissive about sex,
Smith said - chaperons are not uncommon on dates in Mexico. Beyond that,
because of an increasing focus on abstinence, there is less information
available about birth control than in most other industrialized countries.

"As a culture, we have problems with
openly discussing the whens and ifs of sex with our children," Smith said.
"This is one of the outcomes of that."